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Saturday, August 22, 2015

Tiamat's Nest by Ian S. Bott

Okay, I admit it. I like quirky people and blogs. And whether he likes it or not, Ian S. Bott caught my attention.His blog is LOL-worthy. And Strange. And Informative. Doggone it, if you haven't checked it out, you need to. Now.

Tiamat's Nest

Weather forecasting is a life-or-death profession, and hard sciences and technology are all that keep people alive and fed. Anthropologists, soft and useless, rank slightly below politicians and telemarketers on the social scale.This sucks for Charles Hawthorne, Professor of Anthropology.
Worse yet, his research into human behavior has discovered how human history ended up on its current miserable course, and the perpetrator is hell-bent on keeping it hidden.
Worst of all, with everything mechanical under computer control, the most innocuous device is a potential murder weapon to a well-connected villain. After a series of deadly near-misses Charles flees to the wilds of Greenland where the global network has yet to reach. But to deal with the threat, to save himself and his family, Charles has to confront technology full on and enter the even more hostile world online.
Freeing humanity from a lifetime of slavery comes as an added bonus. Excerpt:Moonshadow’s shoulders sagged. “I know it sounds weird, but there’s a construct out there that gamers sometimes run into. It’s bad news.”

“He saw it,” Tin Man said.
“That?” The Samurai gestured, and a golden dragon filled the air between them.
Pink shrieked and back-flipped to her feet, looking ready to run. Moonshadow grunted, but held his ground.
The dragon, frozen mid-lunge, rotated slowly so they could all get a good look. A sinuous body rippled with power beneath iridescent scales. Individually, their color defied analysis, like a film of oil on amber, but overall the beast shone a lustrous reddish-gold. Translucent wings cupped virtual air, and razor-tipped talons stretched to snag invisible prey. So far, so dragonlike. But the eyes! As they swung into view, they appeared little more than flat black discs, vacant and lifeless. But as Tiamat faced Tin Man full on, for a moment, they seemed like portals to a limitless void, empty yet all-seeing. He felt them strip away the veneer of his avatar and pierce him in the darkness of his apartment. I know you! The sensation was overwhelming.